|
Date: |
|
Description: | A collection of letters and other papers relating to his experiences as a fugitive soldier behind the enemy lines in France and Belgium when cut off during the retreat from Mons while serving as an Armourer Staff Sergeant in the Army Ordnance Corps, attached to the 1st Battalion Loyal North Lancashire Regiment (1st Division) with the BEF, including: a ts letter from AOC Records to Mrs Thornton informing her that her husband had been posted missing (1p, September 1914); a printed identity card for Clement Legrand, the alias used by Thornton while a fugitive (1p, 1915); a ms letter to his wife from Holland informing her of his impending return to England (2pp, May 1915); two telegrams telling his wife of his safe arrival in Rotterdam and Harwich (May 1915); three presscuttings about Thornton's successful escape (May - June 1915); an exaggerated story of a sergeant who had remained at liberty behind German lines from the 'Daily Mirror' (September 1915); and a ms letter (1p) from Lieutenant H L Oakley, 32nd Division, to Mrs Thornton enclosing a ms letter from her husband (6pp) written in April 1915 describing in considerable detail his experiences behind the German lines, with a ms postscript (1p, May 1915), which had been given to Oakley by M. Legrand, the farmer who had sheltered Thornton, shortly after his village of Grand Fayt was liberated by British troops in November 1918.
Cataloguer SJO | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Subjects: | 1st Battalion Army Ordnance Corps British Army Loyal North Lancashire Regiment 1st Division | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Thornton, Frederick R | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
|
|